New film that recognises children and young people who stammer to be premiered at Hull Minster

Following the success of the award nominated film ‘My Stammering Tap’, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust Speech and Language Therapists, in partnership with Action for Stammering Children and My Pockets Films, are proud to premiere their latest film ‘My Stammering Child’.

The new film focuses on the concerns of parents with stammering children and puts their unique role in supporting those young people in the spotlight. The goal when creating this film was to help others going through what can be an anxious and challenging time.

Created together with people with lived experience of stammering, this unique project aims to raise awareness of stammering and gives a voice to just some of the people that have been on this journey before and want to share their thoughts to help others.

The film is set to be premiered at an event on Friday 21 October at Hull Minster.

Teams are delighted to be joined by some special guests in person at the event, including Nick Hewer, who took on the role of President at the Royal College of Speech and Language in 2019. For eight years, Nick was the host of Channel 4’s Countdown television programme, and between 2005-15, he also appeared on the BBC’s The Apprentice as Lord Sugar’s right-hand-man.

Video messages of support have been received from Helen Rutter, Author of the children’s book ‘The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh’ and Sir Michael Palin, whose father had a stammer and is the Vice-President of Action for Stammering Children.

Luke Ayling, Professional Footballer and Captain for Premier League Club Leeds United has also sent a video message of support. Luke has opened up publicly about his stammer and how he overcame his insecurities to find his voice and tackle post-match interviews.

The event will conclude with a live Q&A session with members of the focus group who were involved in creating the film, film maker Peter Snelling and NHS Speech and Language Therapists Ruth Edwards and Siobhan Ward. 

The team would like to take this opportunity to say thank you to the organisations who made this film and premiere event possible:

  • Hudgells Solicitors
  • Hull and East Riding Charitable Trust
  • Finn Charitable Trust
  • Hull Trains
  • Hull Flooring
  • KCOM
  • Andrew Jacksons Solicitors
  • HU5 Merchanting
  • Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust Charity, Health Stars

Ria Bernard, Chief Executive at Action for Stammering Children, said:

“Supporting children and young people who stammer, and their families, is at the heart of what we do at Action for Stammering Children, and so I am delighted at the release of My Stammering Child. It can be an anxious and worrying time for families when a child begins to stammer, and parents benefit from support themselves to help their child.

We are proud to have partnered with the Speech and Language Therapy team at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust for this project, which we hope will raise awareness about stammering and improve public understanding and acceptance.”

Michele Moran, Chief Executive at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, said:

“The development and launch of My Stammering Child are huge achievements for our Speech and Language services and I would like to send my sincere thanks to the dedicated teams and the families who were a part of this important work. I am sure it will mean a great deal to our communities to see the uplifting support for our local children and young people.”

The film premiere event at Hull Minster is FREE to attend on Friday 21 October, between 1:30 and 3pm.

Please book a ticket in advance to help us provide the best possible event experience. You can do so on the Eventbrite page here.

Alternatively, if you cannot make it on the day, you can watch virtually on Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust’s YouTube Channel.

You can also follow along on Twitter by following @HumberNHSFT and by using the hashtags #MyStammeringChild and #ISAD2022